Mobile communication devices are increasingly being integrated with additional sensors. These sensors provide a variety of functionality such that mobile communication devices are becoming more powerful in determining a user's context and providing meaningful actions based on the determined context.
One such context determination is in-vehicle usage. A mobile communication device can determine whether a user is in a moving vehicle or not by using sensor data from one or more of an accelerometer and audio sensor and location data. After the mobile communication device makes a determination that the user is in a vehicle, it can adjust settings for hands-free mode and to facilitate the user focusing on the road while driving.
For example, some existing mobile communication devices can announce a caller's name and read out a text message for the user if the determined context is that the user is in a vehicle. This context detection response is desirable if the user is driving a car, because it facilitates the driver keeping her eyes on the road rather than being tempted to look at the mobile communication device. In some instances, the keypad or graphical user interface (GUI) may be locked to prevent the user from texting while driving. However, if the user is a passenger in the vehicle and is not the driver, the same response would be undesirable. Unfortunately, current in-vehicle context detection methods in mobile communication devices fail to distinguish between when the user is driving a car and is only a passenger in the car. This is because the data used for this purpose appears similar with respect to detected motion and location.